The latest otaku craze: lap pillows

I’ve been seeing these around a lot lately at both otaku-ish locations and regular department stores too (two of these 3 pictures I took at Loft in Sakae, Nagoya). They’re an interesting item, playing on the Japanese word 膝枕 (hiza makura), which is made up of the characters for “lap” and “pillow” and usually refers to resting your head in someone’s lap.

Although sadly I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, I’ve also seen these pillows in UFO catchers (= the crane games at game centers). And I’ve seen them in Evangelion girl’s school uniform style, for the true otaku connoisseur.